Wait
by Being A Wallflower
Summary: 'Hey Rose! It's been awhile, hasn't it? Now, I know we're sort of not meant to be seeing each other, but do you fancy going out somewhere this evening? I know it's short notice, but I'm sure you'll love where I'm going to take you.' Love is once more in the air for Rose and Scorpius. But everything isn't always happy ever after. Merry Christmas nessieblackfan!


_Merry Christmas, nessieblackfan! I hope you like this._

**Wait**

Rose leant on the kitchen counter, flicking through her aged copy of Enchantment In Baking, which had been a gift from her Grandma Molly. It was her twenty-first birthday tomorrow and there was going to be a big celebration at her parent's house. Rose felt the need to contribute to the festivities, and was looking for a recipe (she needed inspiration). Settling on 'Fairy Cakes: Cakes with Wings!', she did a few summoning charms to bring the right ingredients to the wooden tabletop.

The red-haired woman had just begun to start her cooking when there was a tap on the window. She turned to see Mercury, an owl she recognised all too well, with a small roll of parchment tied to his leg. Wiping her hands on her jeans, she walked over to the window and opened the window. The barn owl hopped in, and promptly stuck out his leg. Rose detached the parchment and unrolled it as Mercury hopped back out and flew away. Rose smiled as she saw the signature scrawled at the bottom: she _knew_ it.

_Hey Rose!_

_It's been awhile, hasn't it? Now, I know we're sort of not meant to be seeing each other, but do you fancy going out somewhere this evening? I know it's short notice, but I'm sure you'll love where I'm going to take you. Please send back a reply ASAP with Mercury._

_Love,_

_Scorpius x_

_P.S. I'll apparate to your house at seven._

Rose looked up – she'd been so absorbed in the letter she hadn't noticed the absence of Mercury. Sighing, she reached for the quill on the side of the kitchen counter and scratched out a brief reply:

_I'd love too! Mercury flew off too quickly, so I'm sending Queenie._

_Love Rose x_

She hurried outside to find Queenie, her small brown owl. After she had tied the letter to the little owl's leg and it had flown away, she glanced at her watch. Six o'clock. Great.

Rose was wrestling with her hairbrush whilst stumbling down the stairs when Scorpius knocked on the door.

'Coming!' she called, but it didn't matter. She rolled her eyes as Scorpius let himself in, just like he always did.

'Sorry,' he grinned, looking at Rose, who had given up with the hairbrush. 'You sounded a little … preoccupied, so I thought I would let myself in.'

'Yeah, you go on and do that.' Rose raised an eyebrow, and Scorpius laughed.

'You ready to go, then?' he asked.

'Almost,' replied Rose, looking around her, 'Just a moment …'

Soon she was ready, and they were walking out of the door and through the magical boundaries of the house.

'I think we'll do side-along Apparation – I want it to be a surprise for you,' Scorpius winked at Rose. He knew how much surprises irritated her; she was impatient like that.

Holding tightly to his hand, she squeezed her eyes shut as she got the now familiar sensation of being pushed through a tight rubber tube. The darkness squeezed around her, and she took a deep gulp of fresh breath before opening her eyes.

Rose had never seen this sort of place before. At a glance, it was definitely Muggle: she had been taken to Muggle places before (it was a bit of a tradition due to her Granddad's love of muggles and her mother being Muggle-born) but nothing like this. Usually, they would go to train stations or shopping centres. What faced her seemed incredibly old – easily older than Hogwarts, she was sure. Brow furrowed with concentration, she asked,

'What is this place?'

The blonde boy smiled. 'This is called Stonehenge. What do you think of it?'

The girl looked up: it certainly was a magnificent sight. Huge pillars of grey rock towered above her, casting great shadows across the soft ground. There were smaller rocks dotted around, and ditches that surrounded the whole area. The horizon framed everything perfectly. Rose was sure that not many wizards could even fault something like this.

'It's brilliant! How old is it. Do you know?' she asked.

'As a matter of fact, I do. Parts of the sight are over five thousand years old, but the big stones – they're called sarsen stones – are only about four and a half thousand years old. Impressive, don't you think?'

_Definitely older than Hogwarts_, Rose thought. 'Yes, I'm impressed. How do you know all of this, clever clogs?'

'I did my research, that's all.' Rose rolled her eyes at his slightly arrogant tone. It was only then that she actually had a proper look at where she was standing. They were just behind a rail, with the stones about twenty feet away. The people that surrounded them were taking photos with Muggle cameras, and every now and then one would give her and Scorpius an irritated look. She supposed that it was because they were not slowly making their way around the stones, like everybody else was, just standing there, talking.

'How come no-one noticed us when we Apparated here?' Rose was curious.

'You know Muggles – they'll believe anything, really.'

'And why did you bring me here?'

'It's a lovely place, and it's more magic than it first appears. There are loads of ancient enchantments surrounding this place – can't you feel it?'

Rose paused in silence for a moment. She _could _feel a sort of humming that surrounded her. She thought that it had just been the air, but it felt more like magic now that she thought about it.

'I know what you mean – it does feel magical. But how come all their cameras and things are working, then?'

'Oh, Rose! I'm not an expert in Muggle electronics. Your granddad would probably know best - that's his sort of thing. But I don't know personally.'

Another person had just given them an irritated look – this time a middle-aged woman in spiky heels not at all suited to the grassy terrain. Rose saw and muttered to Scorpius,'We better get moving. That lady over there doesn't look too happy.'

She indicated slightly with her head, and Scorpius saw who she was talking about. He smiled graciously at the woman and moved out of the way. She didn't smile back; she just stalked off.

Rose opened her mouth to speak again but Scorpius quietened her. 'No more questions,' he said. 'Just wait.'

Rose looked at him curiously but didn't speak. The pair of them – red-haired girl and blonde boy – just sat quietly on the edge of the path, looking at the massive monument that towered before them. Slowly, the queue of people thinned out and the sun began to set. As some of the final people left, Scorpius cast a Disillusionment Charm over the two of them so that the security guards checking for stragglers wouldn't notice them.

Soon, they were alone. Scorpius took a deep breath and allowed the cool, fresh air to fill his lungs. And then, after taking the charm off him and Rose; he crawled under the barrier and began striding towards the stones. The Weasley girl, a little startled, followed suit.

The shadow cast by the slabs of stone stretched out on the grassy terrain, camouflaging the knolls that were so easy to trip over. Once they reached the centre of the great rock structure. Scorpius sat down comfortably, leaning against one of the larger stones as Rose gawped.

'You're not meant to do that, are you?' she asked suspiciously.

'Well, I suppose I'm not, but we're not going to completely wreck this place, are we? That's why they keep the Muggles out – some of them can be so destructive.'

'Yeah,' Rose said absent-mindedly, not really paying attention to what he was saying: she was staring in awe of the massive structures in front of her.

She couldn't wrap her head round this; they were supposed to be broken up. They weren't supposed to be a couple any longer. Why was it so hard?

'C'mon,' Scorpius indicated towards another stone, 'Come sit down.' Rose suddenly lost her train of thought and looked at him, finally paying attention to what he was saying. She nodded and sat down, allowing the cool stone to prop up her back as she took a deep sigh.

'Why is everything so complicated? Why are we here knowing we love each other, but not together? It's all because of this society that we live in. We shouldn't be together, but we want to be. And that makes me really, truly upset.'

She didn't look at him, but he was surprised. Somehow, she had managed to sum up precisely how he felt in only a couple of sentences.

'Oh shit, Rose. You're too good at explaining how I feel. I love you, and we can't be together because of what we feel. Life can be crap, can't it?'

She still didn't look at him, but the dying sun threw light on her cheeks, igniting the tears that ran them. She hadn't wanted to cry; she knew this would happen. It would have been better if he'd not wrote to her and just been patient. Rose shouldn't have done this; she could have stayed at home and it would have been much less painful. She loved Scorpius, but right now it just couldn't be.

'We have to wait though. We have to wait for the right time. I'm sorry, Scorpius, but I can't deal with the lies that we'd have to tell everyone. I'm sorry.'

And even though Scorpius wanted to kiss her, he knew he couldn't. She'd hate him. So he'd just have to wait.

* * *

This was done for the:

The Christmas Fic Exchange - nessieblackfan wanted Rose/Scorpius

Pairings in the Muggle World Competition by teddylupin-snape – I had Stonehenge as my Muggle place

Pairing Diversity Boot Camp Challenge: Prompt #9 – walking

OTP Boot Camp Challenge: Prompt #40 - want

Loved and Hated Ships Competition by Mrs Bella Riddle - my loved ship was Rose/Scorpius


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